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Hosting migration can be a great decision if you choose the right provider that can offer you better performance, scalability, security, and a bunch of advanced features than your previous provider.
With rapidly evolving technologies, migrating your website, application, etc., from one hosting provider to another has become effortless.
If you face frequent downtimes, performance and uptime issues, security risks, or encounter any other troubles, consider switching your hosting provider.
Whether it is a small business or a large successful website, anyone can move their website to another hosting platform.
The good thing is hosting migration is no longer a big hassle as you don’t have to pay extra attention to the migration process or pay a huge amount.
If you are doing it for the first time, it might seem like a tricky task for you, but following the below steps will make the process pain-free for you.
Let’s discuss what hosting migration is in detail, its benefits if done right, and the step-by-step process to do it effectively.
Introduction to Hosting Migration
Hosting migration is the process of moving your website, application, or any type of digital asset from one web hosting provider to another. It’s like moving a house (website, app, etc.) from one place (existing hosting provider ) to another (hosting provider) with all the assets.
Transferring your website to a reliable hosting provider can ease the whole process without affecting your website’s appearance, functionality, and search engine ranking.
The reasons behind hosting migration could be many, such as getting better features, performance, uptime, affordability, security, and so on. The need for hosting migration can arise when the websites require a higher amount of resources to meet growing traffic.
Hosting migration can be a tricky yet quick process, and you can do it either wholly or partially. Mostly, website owners opt for a complete migration, where they move everything from their website. But there are situations when people migrate only a part of their website.
Benefits of Changing Your Hosting Service
Migrating your website to a new hosting service can offer many benefits, such as:
#1. Enhanced Performance
One of the major reasons website owners migrate their websites is because of the enhanced performance that the new host offers. When you move to new hosting, you not only get better hardware and infrastructure support but also a well-optimized configuration. This ultimately leads to improved performance and boot time.
#2. Higher Reliability
When you shift to a better hosting service, you get higher reliability because a new host will ensure high uptime and prevent your website from frequent service outages. When the server performance improves, it will enhance your reliability, which will garner a lot of traffic and improve your search engine ranking.
#3. Scalability
Another reason that compels many owners to migrate their websites to a new host is due to scalability. When your website is gaining popularity, it will lead to high traffic and resource requirements, and that is when you will need a new host. When you move to a new host that can cater to your scalability, it will ultimately help your website grow.
#4. Improved Technical Support
When you move to a new host that runs a highly qualified technical support team, you can deliver better customer support and tackle issues confidently. It is beneficial for website owners who don’t have a deep knowledge of web hosting.
#5. Enhanced Security
When you lack good security support from your existing host, then it is a good idea to move to a new host that offers excellent web security. There are many hosting services that provide firewalls, DDoS protection, continuous malware scans, and SSL certificates. This way, they help protect your website from cyber-attacks.
#6. Better SEO
When you shift to a new host that offers better performance and reliability, it will positively impact your SEO effort and will lead to a higher search engine ranking.
Steps to Follow for Successful Hosting Migration
To ensure a successful hosting migration, you need to follow some steps:
Step 1: Get a New Hosting
First, consider choosing a different hosting provider that offers better performance and functionalities. This is where you will migrate your website.
While choosing a new hosting, you should evaluate your website requirements and determine whether the new hosting meets your website’s requirements or not. Compare its features, offerings, pricing, ease of use, etc., with the current provider to make your decision.
Step 2: Backup Your Website and Database
Once you have selected your hosting provider, it is time to carefully save and back up your entire website. This will help prevent any errors or inconsistencies when your website goes live on a new host. You can either back up the website manually or use any application that offers this functionality.
Next, back up your website’s database because it contains all the valuable information about your business, customers, vendors, third parties, etc. Here, you can utilize an application like hPanel for backups or do it manually.
Step 3: Setup a Hosting Account
Purchase the desired plan from the hosting provider you have chosen. Configure all the settings and set up your domain name and DNS on the new host. During the update, you might also need to update your DNS record or change your domain name.
Step 4: Prepare the New Host for Migration
After setting up the hosting account, your next task is to prepare the new host for the migration process. You should install vital tools like CMS, themes, and plugins for the proper functioning of the website on the new host. You will also need to update all the configuration files to make them compatible with the new platform.
Step 5: Migrate the Files and Databases
This is an important step where you will need to migrate all your website files and database to the new hosting provider. Transferring the files is relatively easy, and you can utilize a migration plugin or tools like FTP to migrate your website’s files completely.
Along with the files, you should also migrate your database and keep the database connection settings updated in the files.
Step 6: Conduct a Test and Review
Once you have migrated your website, you should conduct a test to make sure the website is operating smoothly on the new host. Do check the front-end and back-end of your website and assess whether it is working correctly or not. If you don’t find any error, it’s a sign you have successfully accomplished your hosting migration.
Tips to Ensure Seamless Hosting Migration
Here are some of the tips you can consider to ensure hosting migration takes place smoothly while keeping downtime to a minimum.
#1. Create a Complete Backup
Always perform a complete backup of your website, including sensitive data, configuration, database, and files. It serves as a vital contingency option if anything goes wrong during migration.
#2. Avoid Website Peak Time
Migrating from one host to another can take hours. So, it is always best to schedule your migration in the hours when the website doesn’t get much traffic. This helps minimize downtime and impacts on the traffic.
#3. Update Your DNS Records Carefully
You should be careful with your DNS records because any negligence can lead to severe website downtime. Before migrating, try lowering the TTL value to enable a quick process. After completing the migration successfully, it’s crucial to update the DNS records.
#4. Keep a Staging Environment
Before starting the migration process, it would be a good idea to create a staging environment on the new host that replicates your existing site. It will provide you with the platform to test migration and ensure everything goes well before starting the migration process.
#5. Inform Visitors and Users
Never forget to notify website users and visitors regarding the scheduled time for migration and the possible downtime they might face. You should also give them an idea of when the site will be serviceable for them.
#6. Keep the Technical Support Ready
During the migration process, you should keep the technical support of the existing and new hosts ready to quickly address any issues. Also, make sure they are prepared throughout the process so that there is minimal downtime.
#7. Update All Configuration Files
When your website is integrated into configuration files, update the configuration files in such a way that they match the new server’s settings. Update the connection details, file paths, and other details as well.
Features to Look for in a Hosting Migration Provider
When choosing your hosting migration provider, consider the following aspects:
Expertise In Migration
While considering a hosting migration provider, you must assess the expertise of the migration provider by checking their previous records. A provider who is experienced in migration and has yielded better results in the past provides a better chance to conduct successful hosting migration without complexity.
Overall Performance
Always choose a migration provider that offers high-end servers and uptime to ensure better reliability and performance. The provider must conduct regular maintenance so that the host is always free of any issues impacting performance.
Website Builder
It would be wise to consider a provider offering support for different types of web builders (like WordPress) or websites you’ve created using codes. It should support multiple platforms and plugins so that it is easy for you to run them.
24/7 Technical Support
It is important to have the support of a professional support team who can help you address any issue that might arise during migration. So, always look for a hosting migration provider that offers 24/7 technical support and employs an experienced technical team.
Comprehensive Features
Look for a host that offers a rich set of features for security, performance, data center options, backups, and more. Some hosting providers also provide a money-back guarantee for a fixed number of days and free website transfers. This will give you an edge over your competitors.
Costing
Look for a hosting migration provider offering features that are value for money since you will be using their services for a long time. So, compare the cost of different providers against their offerings to choose the best one based on your requirements.
And to make the process easier for you, I’ve listed some of the best hosting providers for migration.
Hosting Providers
#1. A2Hosting
From providing free website migration to unparalleled Guru Crew technical support, A2Hosting is ideal for hosting migration. Whether you want to migrate your business, e-commerce, blog, LMS, or non-profit website, A2Hosting can help you with everything.
With this provider, you get up to 20X faster turbo, meaning when you migrate your website, you will get better SEO ranking, higher conversion rates, and lower bounce rates. This hosting migration provider utilizes enterprise-level hardware, which commits to providing you a 99.9% server uptime.
The quick and easy setup functionality of this host will make it easier to set up the website after migration. Currently, the platform provides four types of hosting plans – shared hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated hosting. The plans start from $2.99 per month. If you are not satisfied with their service or performance, it offers a money-back guarantee.
#2. GreenGeeks
GreenGeeks web hosting has become a go-to choice for many website owners who are looking to shift their website from their old hosting service.
One of the significant reasons that attracts many to GreenGeeks is the free hosting migration service that their migration specialists conduct. It also provides you with free domain registration or transfer for the first year.
GreenGeeks offers daily backups along with an on-demand website backup facility where you can backup everything depending on your needs. This web hosting provider pays importance to website security, and that is why they offer custom security rules, zero-day vulnerability mitigation, and free SSL certificates.
If you ever face any issue with your website, reach out to their 24/7 customer support for quick issue resolution. With plans starting from $2.9 per month, you will have four plan options: WordPress hosting, virtual private servers, reseller web hosting, and WooCommerce hosting.
#3. HostGator
If you want to move your website to a new host that can impact your SEO ranking and security, you should consider HostGator. It is a top-of-the-line hosting service that lets you migrate your website with the help of professionals without charging you anything.
Once you have migrated your website, you will also get free domain registration for the first year and SSL certification for the website. While relocating, you won’t have to worry about any issues because you can get in touch with their technical staff, who can help you at any time.
Scalability won’t be an issue once you migrate your website to this new host because they have enabled an unmetered bandwidth functionality. You also get a guaranteed 99.9% uptime, and the credit goes to their use of high-quality servers at various locations like the USA, Brazil, Chile, China, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Russia, Africa, and others.
This hosting provider charges $3.75 per month for the starting plan.
#4. Hostinger
When you choose web hosting providers like Hostinger for your website migration, you won’t have to worry about anything. It is an all-in-one hosting solution that lets you migrate up to 100 websites free of cost. That’s incredible!
The professionals from this host will guide you throughout the migration process, completing it within 24 hours. The best thing is that you will get a free domain for one year when you migrate the website. After migration, Hostinger also allows you to set up a professional business email.
Many website owners prefer this host over others because of its advanced security features like DDoS protection and file security. When you migrate your website, Hostinger will provide your site with a free SSL certificate.
This hosting service is quite affordable as the monthly plans start from $2.99.
Conclusion
Hosting migration is no longer a difficult or costly process, as there are a lot of hosting providers that can help you do that without any data loss or complexity.
Thus, consider the above information to choose a hosting provider and follow the steps and tips to perform migration successfully without downtimes or other inefficiencies.
Next, check why your blog on free web hosting is bad for you.
